Personal Injury Archive
Zicam Recall puts new light on Possible Treatment for Smell Loss
July 15th, 2009. By AbiK
Zicam users who’ve allegedly found themselves without a sense of smell have to deal with another “loss”: the loss—or lack—of treatment options.
One thing you immediately realize upon reading a July 10th article from HealthDay Reporter on loss of smell and a possible new treatment for it is that restoring the sense of smell is not an easy task—few treatment options exist and those that do exist are not a sure bet.
The article, however, points to a potentially new treatment option found in a drug once used to treat asthma. The drug, theophylline, showed some initial promise in a recent study done by Dr. Robert Henkin, director of the Center for Molecular Nutrition and Sensory Disorders in Washington, D.C.
The study looked at 312 patients who were diagnosed with hyposmia (loss of smell) over a seven-year period. After being treated with theophylline, over 50% of the participants in the study reported improved sense of smell; more than 20% reported their smell had returned to normal. Read the rest of this entry »
Acetaminophen Hide and Seek
July 13th, 2009. By AbiK
Interesting how my local Rite-Aid has magnifying glasses on display in the “Analgesics” aisle—the one where you find acetaminophen. It’s either a brilliant marketing ploy or the result of some merchandiser’s sense of humor. Why? If you’re trying to actually read the medication ingredient lists—the ones in mice type—you can’t, so that magnifier can come in mighty handy.
Now add on the state of mind you’re typically in when you’re tooling down the drugstore aisle in search of acetaminophen. Your eyes are most likely darting across those shelves in search of a red box with maybe some white lettering on a slant (Tylenol). Maybe also a big “E” on a green box (Excedrin). If it’s a bad sinus day, let’s throw in a flash of hot pink (Benadryl). And before you know it there’s an acetaminophen party going on in your little shopping basket.
It’s a no-brainer to monitor acetaminophen doses when Nurse Betty hands you 2 Tylenol tablets in a Dixie cup during a hospital stay, right? Sure, you want more—or an I.V. drip, and it’s a prayer in you-know-what you’ll get it. But Nurse Betty isn’t with you in the Rite-Aid, is she?
And that’s where the trouble can start. Read the rest of this entry »
Herbal Fen-Phen (Ephedra) Study on Adverse Effects
July 9th, 2009. By AbiK
There’s an interesting study on Ephedra—aka herbal fen-phen—called “The Relative Safety of Ephedra Compared with Other Herbal Products” by S. Bent, TN Tiedt, MC Odden and MG Shlipak. It was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine (3/18/03, volume 138, pp. 468-471).
In the study, the researchers looked at the number of adverse effects reported to US poison control centers during 2001. Keep in mind, the study is now a few years old as Ephedra has been banned since 2004. But the study was conducted during the time in which Ephedra was still riding high in popularity as a diet supplement.
The results of the study showed:
Products containing ephedra accounted for 64% of all reported adverse effects from herbs even though they represented less than 1% of total herbal product sales. The risk for an adverse effect from ephedra compared with other commonly used herbal products was very high. For example, relative risks for adverse effects from ephedra were 100 times greater than from kava and as much as 700 times greater than from Ginkgo biloba. Types and severity of adverse effects were not described. Read the rest of this entry »
Volunteer Taconite Miners Needed for Cancer Tests
July 8th, 2009. By LucyC
At the end of June the University of Minnesota announced that it would be doing a study to find out if taconite iron ore, which is mined on Minnesota’s infamous Iron Range, is causing a higher than normal instance of asbestos mesothelioma. It seems that taconite workers on the Iron Range are dying in higher than anticipated numbers from the rare form of lung disease.
But the researchers need your help to get the study done—specifically they need 1,200 taconite miners who worked on the Iron Range and 800 spouses, to volunteer for screening procedures.
The screening will reportedly involve two lung capacity tests, a chest x-ray, a full physical and blood test, as well as a health questionnaire. And it’s free. Read the rest of this entry »
Ill Fitting Dentures Could Cause Big Health Problems
July 1st, 2009. By LucyC
If you are one of the several million denture wearers in North America, and find yourself using more than the standard amount of denture cream adhesive to keep your dentures in place, you may be putting yourself at risk for serious neurological disease.
Cases of Zinc Poisoning from Denture Cream Reported
A recent article in the medical journal Neurology, reported on documented cases of patients who had suffered zinc poisoning, believed to be associated with the use of zinc-containing denture creams. (Note: To date, products linked to the denture cream poisoning include PoliGrip, Super PoliGrip and Fixodent denture adhesive.) Read the rest of this entry »
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